We can't tell you how many times we've heard...well I'm just getting old and I guess I can't do those things anymore. Now, it's no secret that your body handles things differently than a 20 or 30 year old when you hit 40+. BUT, let's never use that as an excuse. You can do so much more than you think, all you have to do is try.
We see a heckuva lot of strong women over 40, over 50 and over 60 at our gym and I've asked them to share their stories. They are so inspiring! And they aren't just strong for their age - they are just simply STRONG!
Next up is Julie! Julie is always a blast to have in class. She works really hard, but is also always down for a good laugh. We've known her for a long time and it's been really awesome to see her progress!
Your age: I'll be 50 on Feb. 18!
When did you start strength training? What's your previous experience (if any)? I think I first picked up a dumbbell in a YMCA tabata-style class about 12 years ago. But it wasn’t until 2015, about a month after my 40th birthday, that I walked into Dragonfly and actually started strength training.
What have you found to be the most challenging part of sticking with training? Have there been hard moments? How did you overcome those challenges?! When I first joined in 2015, though I loved coming to Dragonfly and even was a regular at the 6 am class, I wasn’t serious about my regularity. I would hold off scheduling classes until I knew my conflicts that week, I cancelled if I was going to be out late the night before. I allowed a lot of variables to threaten class time.
In 2016 when I moved into a new apartment, I thought my new commute would be too difficult and I’d just have to find a new gym. But there’s no place like Dragonfly I soon came to learn.
Ever since re-joining in 2019, I am so much more intentional. I sign up for my Wednesday and Friday classes as far out as I can as soon as I can, and not much can throw me off course. I guess I simply started to prioritize myself more. Plus, the trust, accountability and friendship I’ve built with my coach and classmates on my regular times means a lot to me. I want to show up for them as well as for myself.
Yes, there have been hard moments. I remember the first time doing the prowler push, I struggled a lot. I kept slipping and my thighs burned so badly, I didn’t think I’d make it. And it seemed like no one else was struggling like I was. My confidence took a hit and I considered blowing off the rest of the classes of that session. Coincidentally, it was right when COVID shut us down, and I didn’t have to. HA! I think the pandemic had a way of revealing that we can do hard things—both personally and as a community; thanks to Renah’s perseverance and innovation, we stuck together through it and trained as best we could in our homes. To me, that made the problem of prowler pushing in the whole grand scheme of things really no big deal. So, many months later when the prowler push came back up in the rotation, I had a different perspective…and a different pair of shoes that helped me grip the turf better. Honestly, the prowler push will never be my favorite, and I still walk like a baby giraffe afterward, but I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nothing to fear in this supportive environment. We’re safe to try new things…and maybe not be so good at them all.
What has surprised you the most about your strength and progress? Growing up, I didn’t enjoy sports. I particularly hated gym class…especially when they made us run a mile around the gym as fast as we could. I concluded early on that fitness just wasn’t for me—that I wasn’t that kid. And as I got older, the thought of going to the gym, let alone lifting weights, was intimidating and unenjoyable. However, it was at age 39, after training for and completing my first-ever 5k and 10k races, that I noticed my old beliefs about myself starting to change. Because heck, I always thought I couldn't run and I had spent the year doing just that, so I wondered what else I was capable of. I’m so grateful to my friend Geri Heberlie, fellow DFT member, whom I met in the running training, for encouraging me to check out Dragonfly.
So what has surprised me the most along this journey is that I’ve become a woman who loves to go to her gym. I’ve found my people at a place where we have fun trying new and hard things and getting stronger together. And because of the old narratives I’ve overcome since becoming a member here, I look forward to new challenges and getting outside of my comfort zone—both here and beyond. I’ll be 50 this year, and though that surprises me all by itself, I’m downright amazed that I’m arriving at this milestone in probably the best shape I’ve ever been in my life.
What do you feel like is your strongest quality when it comes to the gym/training?
I think it’s not taking myself too seriously and giving myself grace. A practice still in progress. Though I work hard, focus on my form, and am serious about improving a little bit in every class, when I can’t master a certain move or lose my balance or realize I need a much lighter weight, my first instinct is to laugh at myself. And laughing and enjoying our progress, not perfection, is what our coaches reinforce every day.
What are some of your proudest moments in the gym? Brag brag brag! Thanks to my training, I have some bad-ass lat strength— I can do full, traditional push-ups with one hand on a slider, pull-ups with no band assistance, and bent-arm hangs for 20+ seconds
Anything else you would like to add? This place is really special. This ain’t just strength training. This is female empowerment training. We get physically stronger, sure, but we also get more confident, more secure in our bodies, more trusting of our fellow members—at any and every age--and because of that, we’ve created one amazing community of real women. And did I mention how much fun we have??
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